Many times we forget that making more money or moving to a larger home is not a change that children will understand. The younger child, less able they are to "see into future" as you do. They tend to focus on losing security they already know, along with missing friends and family. Your job is to turn sadness and doubt into happiness. Ask yourself what advantages there are for child in move. For example, will family be closer to Grandma, ocean, or another favorite person, place, or activity?

One of easiest ways to turn an unhappy frown into joy and excitement is to communicate frequently. Let your children know, step by step, what is happening and what is likely to happen next. Tell them what move means to family -- how important it is that Mommy got a big promotion or that Daddy is opening a new office for his company, and how other aspects of move will be good for child.

Be ready for those "What about me?" questions by researching schools, churches, activities, and community amenities in advance, and offer your child choices and ways to participate where it is appropriate. Whenever possible, look up information on Internet, or have your agent e-mail, fax, or mail vital information about community so that you and your child can plan where to go and who to meet in order to help ease transition into new activities and surroundings. Contact organizations with whom your child is already associated or with whom he or she has an interest, and ask for referrals to your new city. Knowing they won't have to give up favorite hobbies or sports goes a long way toward helping children adjust.

Making contacts with future friends, classmates, and fellow hobbyists can also go a long way toward helping your child's transition to a new home and environment. See if your agent, other transferees, or family can put you in touch with other children your child's age so that a chat room or e-mail friendship can begin.

Once you locate a recipe (and for some of us, that's a leap we'll never make), do you have time to prepare it? The desire to make effort? And most important, you've got to like that dish a lot -- because you're going to be eating it until you're 85, right? Single cooks often complain that they can't find recipes for one or two servings. Instead, they're written to serve six people, eight people, or small armies. Of course, you can put your mathematician's hat on, do division, and whittle that recipe down to two servings (what's one-tenth of 2 cups?), but if you miscalculate, you're looking at a culinary disaster and a lot of wasted time.

All of this makes bold assumption that you cook. Many, many singles don't. Some admit to cooking, but only for other people. We singles seem to have a confidence problem in kitchen. We'll do it for others, but not for ourselves. So apartment-dwellers arrive home from work each night carrying not only their briefcases, but also their take-out boxes. And all of them will discover with time that avoiding their kitchens not only becomes old; it's also expensive. But truth is that while we might think cooking for ourselves is expensive, it's not -- particularly if you cook multiple portions which may then be frozen for later use. Cooking is actually far more cost-effective than relying on convenience foods.

It used to be that we headed to a restaurant to escape grind, to enjoy a night out away from home. We wanted someone else to do cooking and cleanup, and we were quite happy to pay for that luxury. These days, however, we're eating less and less often at restaurant, shunning candles and "I'll be your waiter this evening" for take-out -- preferably ordered ahead of time by phone, so that we don't have to wait once we arrive at restaurant.

Market research firm NPD Group found that in 1996, more restaurant meals were taken out than eaten on premises. In contrast, 41 percent of restaurant meals were carried out 10 years before. 1996 was first year pendulum swung in other direction, and it marked beginning of a trend that has continued and gained strength. The bottom line in 1998 is that consumers want their food prepared by a restaurant, but they don't necessarily want to eat it there. "Restaurants are becoming prepared-food supermarkets," says NPD's Harry Balzer.

Taking into consideration our changing demographics, NPD projects fastest-growing restaurant meals from now until 2010 will be: weekday lunches at a restaurant without kids, up 80 million meals per year; weekend dinners at a restaurant without kids, up 61 million meals per year; and weekday dinners at a restaurant without kids, up 48 million meals per year.

According to recent surveys:

* Americans, excluding those who live in institutions, eat more than one of every five meals at away-from-home eating establishments. * Fast-food restaurants serve four out of 10 meals eaten at away-from-home eating establishments. * Four out of 10 consumers say they have changed their eating out habits to reflect nutritional concerns. * Adults eat roughly 30 percent of their calories away from home. * Americans spend more than 40 cents of every food dollar on food eaten away from home. * Today, only 55 percent of dinners include one homemade dish. Ten years ago, figure was 64 percent. The number of ingredients is also at an all-time low. * Dishes such as potatoes, bread, and salad are served less often. Vegetables, once in more than half of all dinners, are now served at only 43 percent of dinners. * The number of take-out dinners has more than doubled.